How would you handle being related by blood to one of the most notorious murderers in history? It’s a very real truth for Jason Freeman, grandson of the late Charles Manson. This series provides unfiltered access to Freeman as he comes to grips with his background by attempting to better understand his grandfather.

Viewers will hear phone conversations between Manson and Freeman while the former was serving out his life sentence, and see exclusive footage of Manson’s funeral. DRG commissioned and funded the series, which will make its debut on U.S. cable channel Reelz in 2019.

British distributor DRG has fully funded New York-based production outfit MY Entertainment’s 4 x 60-minute docuseries on infamous cult leader and convicted mass murderer Charles Manson as its first original commission.

The previously announced Manson’s Bloodline follows Jason Freeman, Manson’s grandson, on a quest to meet his 82-year-old grandfather before his death in prison on Nov. 19, 2017 in an attempt to come to terms with his past.

The series also features previously unheard phone calls that Manson had with Freeman from prison; Freeman’s battle for his grandfather’s body following his death; and exclusive footage of Manson’s funeral.

DRG decided to fully fund production and commission the series, without a broadcaster commitment, after working closely alongside Michael Yudin‘s MY Entertainment.

Reelz has since come aboard as broadcaster in the U.S. DRG has also sold the pan-Scandinavian rights to SVOD service Viaplay.
MY Entertainment and DRG will now look to transform Bloodline into a long-running, returning docuseries franchise that explores “how the activities and atrocities of some of the world’s most infamous criminals impacted not only their own destinies but also those of the people around them.”

As a result, DRG is now developing a full slate of its own commissions.

Manson’s Bloodline, meanwhile, will be delivered late summer, in advance of next year’s 50th anniversary of the Manson Family murder spree.

The series is executive produced by Joe Townley at MY Entertainment and Zak Bagans of Zak Bagans Entertainment. DRG’s Richard Halliwell, Elin Thomas and Adam Barth also serve as executive producers.

“Over the past year or two we have increasingly worked very closely with producers and have become integral to the development process of numerous programs – scripted and unscripted – from both a financial and content perspective,” said Halliwell, CEO of DRG, in a statement.

“The traditional distribution model is no longer viable; distributors cannot sit back and wait for programming to come to them. We need to be quick, flexible and use our market knowledge – and instincts – to grab great content and ensure it moves swiftly from a paper idea into production,” Halliwell continued. “Manson’s Bloodline, with its extensive exclusive elements, was a gift of a treatment, but it also had MY Entertainment attached. We know the team there well and they have an enviable reputation for delivering great shows, so we really didn’t need to deliberate.”

“DRG’s upfront development support and subsequent quick greenlight, plus the combination of our joint expertise, has produced a fascinating series that was not only able to capture key events as they happened, such as the Manson funeral, but also deliver in good time for broadcasters to schedule for 2019,” added MY Entertainment founder Michael Yudin.

New York-based indie MY Entertainment has named former Discovery, Inc. executive Jon Sechrist to the newly created role of EVP of production, development and strategy.

Sechrist will be tasked with developing new programming and strategy, and building on the company’s ratings successes, including Ghost Adventures, Pros Vs Joes, Breaking Borders and Baggage Battles. In addition, Sechrist will also be working on projects in the development pipeline, including tentatively titled docuseries Hidden Assets and Sin City Sober, among others.
Based in New York, Sechrist will report into MY Entertainment president and founder Michael Yudin.

Previously, Sechrist has been the executive producer at TLC, vice president at Discovery Networks International and senior vice president at the Discovery-owned production house Betty.

“Having worked on both the network and production side of the business, Jon is that rare executive— a TV mind understanding the pressures of production, as well as the commercial imperatives,” said Yudin in a statement. “What’s more, he knows his way around the global market, having worked extensively with U.S. and international content. That skillset, along with his background in both scripted and unscripted content, makes Jon the ideal person to lead MY Entertainment into its next phase of growth.”

Finnish commercial TV channel Nelonen has ordered 10 episodes of the factual entertainment format Pregnant & Platonic, which looks at a new way to enter into parenthood.

ITV Studios in Finland will produce the series, currently in production, with an airdate set for 2019.

The format, co-developed by Gil Formats and MY Entertainment, centers on people who want to have a child without being romantically involved. The series follows the meeting of potential co-parenting partners over a year, as they face challenges and difficult decisions before the baby is born. It is based on Gil Formats’ CEO, Assaf Gil‘s personal journey to parenthood.

Nelonen is the second broadcaster to commission the format, with a UK version set to premiere on BBC2 in 2019.

[vc_row class=”blog-details-single”][vc_column][vc_column_text]Michael Yudin’s New York-based prodco MY Entertainment has penned an exclusive development and production deal with crime scene investigator Yolanda McClary.
Under the deal, MY Entertainment will provide financial support to the development and marketing of all McClary’s television projects.
The first project to emerge from the deal is the true crime series He’s Still Out There, which will examine the unsolved murder of Theresa Insana, who was strangled to death in her Las Vegas home before being dumped in a drainage area.
The series will look to utilize bleeding-edge technologies, including DNA phenotyping technology, capable of creating a near exact photo of a person’s physical appearance, to bring Insana’s mysterious killer to justice 14 years later.
Also in development is Crime Scene Horror Story. The series will feature McClary, who spent 26 years working as a forensic specialist for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD), as she demonstrates her ability to read a crime scene and, by extension, a killer’s mindset and motives.
McClary has worked on more than 7,000 crime scenes across her career with the LVMPD. She had previously served as a presenter over three seasons on the Dick Wolf-produced true crime series Cold Justice, which had previously aired on TNT, and has been on Oxygen since February 2017.
While working as a senior crime-scene analyst, McClary served as the inspiration for Catherine Willows, the character portrayed by Marg Helgenberger on the CBS procedural forensics crime drama series CSI.
“Yolanda is a proven true-crime brand, with a personality that resonates with audiences around the world,” said MY Entertainment’s Yudin in a statement. “Few people have her incredible insider knowledge of crime — and even fewer have her storytelling powers. The combination is solid gold in terms of true-crime content. With everything she does, Yolanda demonstrates her deep commitment not only to solving cases, but to giving a voice to those victims of crime who have been silenced for too long.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Sky Vision, the production and distribution arm of Sky, has inked a first-look distribution deal with Sin City Justice producer MY Entertainment.

Under the agreement, Sky Vision will have access to the New York-based indie’s latest development projects with the option to exclusively distribute the new content to the global marketplace.

MY Entertainment produces a roster of programs and formats for leading international brands, including Travel Channel’s Ghost Adventures, Investigation Discovery‘s Sin City Justice (pictured) and UKTV’s Help! My House Is Haunted.

Most recently, the company teamed with SBS Broadcasting and Critical Density Media on the social experiment format The Power; partnered with former NBA star Tyson Chandler on a forthcoming reality series focused on fashion in sports; and secured a deal to develop content with global health and wellness content company Rodale.

The deal, meanwhile, will further strengthen Sky Vision’s factual and entertainment portfolio, which currently includes October Films’ Walking the Americas, Whalerock Industries and BattleBots Inc.’s BattleBots and Blast! Films’ Secret Life of the Zoo.

“We are delighted to be working with MY Entertainment, a company that has proved itself to be creative and versatile with a strong international entrepreneurial streak,” said Gillian Rose, SVP sales and acquisitions at Sky Vision, in a statement. “MY Entertainment has tapped into partnerships with several very interesting and innovative producers around the globe, and together we expect to create and distribute some great programming from this alliance.”

New York-based prodco MY Entertainment has inked a new partnership with SBS Broadcasting in South Korea and Critical Density Media to develop The Power for global audiences.

The new social experiment format focuses on society’s relationship with money, class, social status and power. The Power examines how people – regardless of wealth or background – behave when given absolute power to make decisions for those around them.

The Power is slated to air in Korea in early 2018, and MY Entertainment has teamed up with the Korean broadcaster to further develop the format for the U.S. and western markets.

The format recently won a Gold Remi award at the Houston International Film Festival and has been nominated for a Rockie award at the Banff World Media Festival.

MY Entertainment’s other copros include the series, Help! My House Is Haunted with back2back Productions and Ghost Adventures’ Zak Bagans for UKTV.

A pilot has recently been created in the Netherlands for Hall Pass, the project of a partnership between MY Entertainment, London-based The Story Lab and Spain’s Phileas Productions. Working with Israel’s Gil Formats, MY Entertainment co-developed the co-parenting format Pregnant and Platonic which has now been optioned in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Spain, Finland and Sweden.

In this week’s round-up, new non-fiction docuseries are slated to debut across Investigation Discovery, Complex Networks, HLN and TV One.

Global lifestyle brand and media company Complex Networks will accompany a young, self-taught survivalist on a variety of adventures in Going Cambo!

Produced by Rated Red, the docuseries features Cameron “Cambo” Bowling as he takes guests on a 48-hour adventure through the wilderness of Alabama. Each week, three episodes ranging in length from six to nine minutes will see visitors dropped into remote locations in the backwoods of Alabama and are taught, by Cambo, to live and survive off the wild terrain. Going Cambo! premieres May 30 on streaming service go90 and are scheduled for release on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Elsewhere, American cable net HLN will debut Nutopia’s true crime series Beyond Reasonable Doubt on June 2 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
The 6 x 60 docuseries will take viewers inside the world of forensic investigation through high-profile criminal cases that have unraveled over the past century and were ultimately solved by advances in forensic science or technology. Among the infamous cases explored in the series, which features the lead detective of each case, are the Green River Killer and 1996 Atlanta bombings.
Meanwhile, Urban One-owned cable net TV One will add to its true crime line-up with Jupiter Entertainment’s #Murder.

The series will look to explore deadly crimes with a connection to technology and social media, from the killer and victim meeting online, to the murderer posting incriminating details on Facebook, and law enforcement teams using social media to hunt down the perpetrator. TV One will broadcast #Murder on June 5 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

The vérité-shot series, formerly Las Vegas Law and bows June 8 at 10 p.m. ET/PT, provides exclusive access to Las Vegas district attorney Steve Wolfson and the Clark County District Attorney’s office as they pursue justice in their community.

The series, which features surveillance footage and photography, will document the DA’s office as they assess each crime scene and interview victims and witnesses while also chasing a conviction in the courtroom. Sin City Justice will use surveillance footage, police interrogation video, and photography never-before-released to immerse viewers in the high stakes legal environment.

New York-based independent production company MY Entertainment is teaming up with global health and wellness content company, Rodale.

Under the deal, MY Entertainment will work with Rodale to develop content based on Rodale’s IP and talent relationships. The company owns brands such as Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Runner’s World and Bicycling.

The MY development team will collaborate closely with the editors of Rodale’s brand to identify compelling ideas and personalities for new storytelling opportunities.

While the companies would not reveal specific examples at this stage in the deal, the stories in development will be based on real life and the titles in development will be targeted at lifestyle channels.

“Rodale’s portfolio is a treasure trove of factual and lifestyle entertainment. The range of lifestyle and human-interest stories is not just deep and diverse, but truly inspirational,” said Michael Yudin, CEO of MY Entertainment, in a statement. “This relationship has it all: a mine of strong IP from loved and trusted brands, and a production company with the knowledge and experience to bring them to TV.”

This deal marks the first time that Rodale has worked with a production company that can deliver traditional TV, OTT and web-based video content. Adam Campbell, chief content officer at Rodale, says television is the natural next step for the company.

New York-based independent production company MY Entertainment is teaming up with NBA All-Star and style icon Tyson Chandler (pictured) to develop a new reality television series taking viewers behind-the-scenes into the exciting world of fashion in sports.

Chandler, whose style off the court has landed him in the pages of top fashion magazines and front row at designer fashion shows, will serve as an executive producer and make appearances on the show, which will focus on his design stylist and fashion consultant, Browne Andrews.

In the series, Andrews will take viewers into his inner circle of top stylists to provide an up-close and inside look at the high pressures of keeping their NBA clients in the fashion spotlight.

“An NBA World Champion and consistently named one of the league’s most fashionable players, Tyson Chandler is the perfect partner for this show,” said Michael Yudin, president of MY Entertainment, in a statement. “The entrance and exit to games has become a virtual runway for NBA stars. We are thrilled to work with Tyson and influential stylist and fashion director, Browne Andrews to bring people into the exciting, fast paced and high-pressure world of top stylists trying to deliver a fashion win for their superstar clients.”

Joe Townley, COO at MY Entertainment, and David Auerbach, SVP at MY Entertainment, will serve as executive producers for the show along with Chandler.

[vc_row class=”blog-details-single”][vc_column][vc_column_text]Aussie, French Prodcos Get Pregnant
Tel Aviv-based sales firm Gil Formats has sold its fact-ent format Pregnant & Platonic to production companies in Australia and France.
Aussie producer Eureka Productions and French studio Ah! have signed on to produce the social experiment format in their respective territories.
The series chronicles the lives of men and women looking to birth a child without becoming romantically involved. Cameras will follow selected participants – hand-selected for them by a team of experts – over the course of a year as they face the challenges of becoming a co-parent. Each story will hopefully culminate with a child being born.
Co-developed by Gil Formats and New York’s MY Entertainment, the format was inspired by the personal experience of Gil Formats CEO Assaf Gil who had his first child in 2016 with a co-parent.
The format has now been taken on in six territories, including the UK, Spain, Sweden and Germany.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Zak Bagans has always had a fascination with the darker side of the human psyche.

The American television personality is the creator, executive producer, and host of the paranormal series Ghost Adventures (Travel Channel), where Bagans and his team explore the world’s most haunted places. In one of his latest series, Deadly Possessions (Travel Channel), Bagans showcases his collection of haunted artifacts.

So it should come as little surprise that when the chance came up for Bagans to explore a new angle of infamous cult leader and convicted mass murderer Charles Manson, it was an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.

New York-based independent production company MY Entertainment has announced a high-concept co-production with Zak Bagans Entertainment. The series will follow Jason Freeman, Manson’s grandson, on a quest to meet his 82-year-old grandfather before he dies in prison.

The new series will be filmed in several locations, including Freeman’s home in Florida and California, and will feature audio footage between Manson and Freeman, recorded from prison.

While Manson’s life has been widely covered in the media, Bagans believes seeing the story told through Freeman’s eyes will offer viewers a perspective they’ve never seen before. What’s more, with both the critical and ratings’ success of docs such as Netflix’s Making a Murderer, ESPN’s OJ: Made in America and ABC’s Truth and Lies: The Menendez Brothers – American Sons, American Murders, consumer appetite for true crime is growing. That’s led Bagans to believe his new project will have no problem finding an audience.

“People are drawn to notorious figures,” he tells realscreen. “And Jason’s story is particularly gripping because he’s had to grow up with the stigma attached to the Manson name.”

A project of this scale isn’t without its challenges. To go forward with the climactic conclusion of the series — a face-to-face conversation between Freeman and Manson —Bagans has to figure out how to get Freeman and the crew inside the walls of California State Prison-Corcoran where Manson continues to serve a life sentence for a string of high-profile murders, most notably the 1969 stabbing death of actress Sharon Tate.

“Getting into the prison has been the hardest thing,” says Bagans. “We have our legal counsel and law enforcement experts, and ultimately were going to make this work. We’re right in the thick of it now, and Jason will be going out to California soon.”
The crew has started filming, and they’ll soon be ready to go to market with material to show distributors and commissioners. But Bagans says Freeman has already received a lot of direct interest about the project.

“It’s amazing to see how much interest is in Jason already, so I think once we catapult this into actual footage and we get a proof of concept ready, it’ll move very quickly,” Bagan says.

Tel Aviv-based distributor Gil Formats has penned four deals with prodcos across Europe to produce its newest format Pregnant and Platonic.

Finestripe Productions in the UK, Endemol Shine Germany, This Is Nice Group in Sweden and Bulldog TV in Spain have signed on to produce the social experiment format in their respective territories.

The series chronicles the lives of men and women looking to birth a child without becoming romantically involved. Cameras will follow selected participants – hand-selected for them by a team of experts – over the course of a year as they face the challenges of becoming a co-parent. Each story will hopefully culminate with a child being born.

Pregnant and Platonic was co-developed by Gil Formats and New York’s MY Entertainment.

The format was inspired by the personal experience of Gil Formats CEO Assaf Gil who had his first child in 2016 with a co-parent.

Gil Formats, the development and distribution arm of Israel’s Gil Productions, has linked up with US prodco My Entertainment to create a format about the growing phenomenon of co-parenting.

Pregnant & Platonic will launch at Mipcom next week and will centre on women and men who are looking to have a child without first falling in love. The format was inspired by the personal experience of Gil Formats CEO Assaf Gil, who had his first child this year with a co-parent.

“It is a radical new way to start a family and the stakes couldn’t be higher – two strangers making a lifelong commitment to have and raise a child together. It’s platonic parenting and this is the new modern family,” Gil Formats said in a statement.
Pregnant & Platonic will see each participant meet three potential partners that have been hand-selected for them by a team of experts, and go through an intensive parenting training to help determine if their values and parenting styles are compatible.

Once they choose a partner to have a child with, the series will follow the couples over the course of a year as they face numerous challenges before they can turn their dreams of becoming parents into a reality. Each story aims to end with a baby being born.

This week’s round-up of programs with new seasons on the way includes series from Investigation Discovery, HGTV, and Food Network UK.

Investigation Discovery has greenlit a second season of Las Vegas Law, slated for 2017. The series features Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson and his team of prosecutors as they work on an assortment of Sin City crime cases. Production is underway for the six-episode second season. MY Entertainment produces.

Meanwhile, Scripps Networks’ HGTV has renewed Vintage Flip for a second season, set to premiere in the summer of 2017. The series stars real estate agent and contractor Jessie Rodriguez and his designer wife Tina and follows them as they search for, purchase and restore vintage homes in Orange County, California. The series is produced by Pie Town Productions.

Sister network Cooking Channel brings back its Sugar Showdown for a new season on September 14 at 10 p.m. EST/ 7 p.m. PT. The program, hosted by chef and Epic Meal Time alumnus Josh Elkin features three expert bakers battling it out, crafting sugary treats – pies, cakes and cupcakes galore – in two rounds of challenges. Architect Films produces.

Elsewhere, Scripps UK/EMEA has greenlit a second series for Paul Hollywood City Bakes, set for spring of 2017. In season two, the British baker (pictured) will visit such cities as Oslo, Antwerp, Reykjavik, Palermo, Nicosia, Cape Town, Amman, Dublin, Los Angeles and San Francisco, and explore the recipes that have emerged from each in order to craft his own “City Bake” stemming from the experience. Reef Television produces.

[vc_row class=”blog-details-single”][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Scripps Networks Interactive-owned Travel Channel has commissioned an online travel series from MY Digital.
The New York-based company, which is owned by MY Entertainment, is producing the web series Ten Best Places with… (pictured) for Travel Channel Originals. The 10-part series focuses on the most Googled destinations and travel topics.
Scripps-owned online lifestyle network Ulive has also renewed the MY Digital-produced Trip Smart for a second season. Hosted by travel reporter Peter Greenberg, the series gives viewers tips on how to travel cheaper and hassle free.
The commissions follow the debut of a MY Digital-produced web series about former Green Bay Packers head coach Mike Sherman for NBC Sports Digital.
Sherman’s Warriors (6 x 10 minutes) follows Sherman as he coaches a high-school football team in Cape Cod. The series is the first to fall under NBC’s digital strand of short-form sports programming airing across NBC’s various platforms.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

New York producer MY Entertainment is opening an office in Los Angeles to be headed up by David Auerbach.

The former Rive Gauche Television president has been appointed to the newly created role of senior VP of international and will focus on co-developing programming with the company’s international partners for the U.S. market.

Auerbach’s credits include ABC’s The Bachelor and MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew. Prior to joining Rive Gauche, he was a senior programming executive for Warner Bros where he developed and produced upwards of 300 hours of prime-time programming and more than 3,000 hours of cable and first-run syndication programming.

“What we’re doing is very unique. We have forged strong relationships with high-quality independent international producers and have brought a senior executive on board to work with them to co-develop original concepts for the U.S. market,” said MY Entertainment CEO Michael Yudin in a statement.

The company’s recent credits include Breaking Borders and Baggage Battles, and it is developing titles with Spain’s Phileas Productions and Ireland’s WAKA TV.

New York-based prodco MY Entertainment has penned a development deal with Zak Bagans (pictured), television host and creator of the Travel Channel series Ghost Adventures.

Among the projects in development between the two parties – which already work together on Ghost Adventures – is the series Pups on Parole, which follows a Las Vegas program that pairs female prisoners with dogs from an animal sanctuary.
A second project in development is Flight Club, which centers on Las Vegas’s model airplane clubs, which build, fly and battle replicas of historic planes and drones.

“From the minute I saw Zak’s self-financed, self-made documentary Ghost Adventures back in 2007 I knew I wanted to be in business with him,” said Michael Yudin, CEO of MY Entertainment, in a statement. “He’s not only incredibly smart but he’s also multi-talented in all aspects of successful hit programming, being as creative and charismatic behind the camera as he is on-screen.”

Bagans added: “My passion for the paranormal is equal to that of television production and development. Michael and I formed a powerful relationship back in 2007 that has proven clear success through our number one-rated series and other joint ventures.
“The opportunity to grow with MY Entertainment in this latest exciting phase of the company’s history and to be behind the creation of more programming in and out of the paranormal genre is hugely rewarding,” he said.

Fourteen more production companies from New York and Los Angeles have joined the Non-Fiction Producers Association (NPA), the fledgling non-profit trade group dedicated to growing non-fiction industry.

The news comes after the NPA launched last month with eight companies on board: Atlas Media Corp, Big Fish Entertainment, Jane Street Entertainment, Leftfield Pictures, Loud TV, Magilla Entertainment, Original Media and True Entertainment.
At launch, the NPA said it aims to promote best practices that will “ensure production employees, independent contractors, vendors and other stakeholders have a voice and platform for meaningful discourse that can encourage and contribute to the continued success and welfare of all parties within the non-fiction television industry.”

In addition, the organization said today (August 27) that it has also formed a six-member executive committee and a 15-member board of directors, although the names of those on the committee and the board have yet to be released.

The board’s first meeting will be held on September 10 in New York, where the group will establish its first set of initiatives.
“We are gratified by the continuing and growing positive response to the formation of the NPA, and are delighted to welcome these new companies – from the East and West Coasts – to our ranks,” said NPA exec director Rick Feldman (pictured above).
“The NPA now includes 22 of the industry’s top television producers, and we are currently in talks with more production companies that have expressed serious interest.”

In a statement, the organization said: “For several years now, the Writers Guild of America, East has worked to raise awareness among elected officials and the general public of the difficult working conditions faced by people working in non-fiction/reality television.

“We hope the NPA and its new members will address the serious workplace issues faced by their employees. The Writers Guild of America, East has been working closely with the thousands of writer-producers who work so hard to make non-fiction programs successful. These efforts have brought company-paid health benefits, paid time off, minimum compensation levels, and other important protections to many producers and associate producers.

“We look forward to working closely with the NPA and prodcos to extend these improvements industry-wide.”